The Price of Free Speech

As an American nothing is more precious that our rights. Rights are the very reasons the settlers traveled across an ocean to land never seen and barely heard of to found a new nation. Rights are the reason this fledgling country went to war with the greatest military empire in the history of the world. Rights have created social issues that have torn the fabric of this nation on more than one occasion. With every sacrifice and drop of blood shed on every foreign continent is was always in the name of the rights and freedoms we have here in America. So why is it that now, 236  years after the founding of this nation, 147 years after the end of the civil war and the end of slavery, and only 48 years since the passing of the civil rights act does it seem that we have less rights than ever?

Multiple rights are eroded based on state laws, job and position and the ever growing push toward political correctness in America.You have the right to bear arms yet in most states there are so many regulations on gun ownership that it has become impractical. You have the right to a fair trial and a jury of your peers yet rarely is the jury a population sample that is reflective of the age and race of the accused. The most glaring issue that made me write this article is the erosion of the right to free speech.

Speaking your mind in America is perfectly fine so long as you do not hold any public office, or legitimate job. We live in a world where words; spoken, written or even tweeted can cost you your job. It is one thing when your comments are beyond inflammatory and racist or hate fueled. Its another when comments whether seemingly harmless or not are blown out of proportion. Just ask Roland Martin, who lost his position with CNN for these tweets during the Superbowl, or Ozzie Guillen who said that he respected Fidel Castro for his ability to survive with so many enemies. Outside of public celebrities this man was fired for expressing outrage that the NFL team he worked for released one of its legends. There are plenty of examples that you will find where a simple comment, Tweet or Facebook post can damage a persons life.

It is one thing when your comments reveal a lie or betray company secrets, its another when they are pure expressions of opinion true free speaking on an issue controversial or not. Its sad when an opinion in this world can cost you your job, where is the freedom in that? If we truly have the freedom to speak and express in words, writing and any other art forms the we should be able to due so without the constant peril of consequence. I am not advocating recklessness, but expression, freedom to have an opinion and share it with those whom are willing to hear. Unfortunately in today's world we must be careful what we say, because your freedom to speak has a price...

The Blogger You Deserve

More than once I have said I was going to start writing again. I probably do not have any followers anymore and I don't blame them. I used to have an excellent blog full of poetry, opinion pieces, and reviews covering a wide spread variety of topics. It is true I have had a lot go on in my life that  have derailed my desire to write but now it is truly time to come back. Once again I will provide the stark views, and honest truth that made this blog a profound perspective. My next piece will come this afternoon with more to follow.  I am @PositiveControl and I am once again the writer you deserve

The Steel Rose

How did you do it for so long?
How did you grow? With so little help along?
How did you plant seeds and steer them away from wrong?
Maybe because you’re a steel rose, so beautiful and strong.


How did you provide so much love and care?
When others faltered you picked up their share.
All alone you did the work of a pair.
Is it because you’re a steel rose so beautiful and rare?


You gave your all until your last exhaust.
The lessons you gave will never be lost.
In the coldest of days you shielded us from the frost.
Is it because you’re a steel rose, priceless and without cost?


I know God is real because only he could create you.
You are the epitome of a mother powerful and true.
Now you will rest in Christ's arms and receive your due.
Because you’re a steel rose, and there will never be another like you.

In Memory of Beverly Gloria Watson

 March 15, 1959-December 28, 2011

Don't Give Love A Bad Name

I sit here pondering all that has happened to my family and in my personal life in the past year and I can humbly admit that I have given love a bad name. I think many of us are guilty of such at times. We let the frustrations of life build to a point of no return until the explode on the unsuspecting bystander which is usually a loved one. We all take out pain, anger, dissapointment, and frustration in ways we may not even think about or notice. The key is to not let it put a strain on your loved ones and those who care about you.
When it does boil over make sure you fix it. Pride can be a terrible thing, be willing to come back and admit your anger and frustration and your own wrongdoing. If you have been done wrong do not let your hurt close your heart to those who are trying to apologize. Life is so precious and so short to allow our emotions to destroy relationships in the heat of a single moment.

Too often I have seen family members, friends, lovers, separate and not speak all because of often petty arguments. Be willing to admit and understand when and how your wrong. Be willing to work to fix it. Sometimes there are situations when a person is not worth your time but there are also situations where we can give love a bad name.

True Thanksgiving 11'

I think of all of the things that I am thankful for this year and I cannot help but see the hardships and struggles that have engulfed my last year. Despite having a tough story from day one I can honestly say this has been the roughest year of my life. I have lost family members and for the first time in my life I could not have my mother by my side for Thanksgiving because she is in the hospital fighting cancer, fighting for her life. Despite it all I can say I am truly thankful, thankful for being here, thankful for having a good job in the career field I went to school for, thankful for my family members that are still here, etc.

It is very easy to be thankful when things are fine and everything is going according to plan. Only the most ungrounded of people fail to show appreciation when there are not many problems and issues or things to complain about. Appreciation is the key to enjoying life, there are example of the rich and famous suffering and being unhappy despite being rich and famous all because they do not appreciate what they have. A primary drive in life  is to get to the point where you have no worry or wants or needs, however true appreciation is being thankful when the chips are down and your world begins to crumble around you. Like the eye of a hurricane I stand in the calm being at the middle and I can say I am still thankful for being here and for having all of the things that I do.


Always remember that there is always someone better than you or in a better situation, and there is always someone worse. There is a old Chinese proverb I heard (That I cannot completely recall so I shall paraphrase) there was a man who was angry at the world because he had no shoes, he felt pain everywhere he walked, he was angry until he met a man who had no feet. These are tough times and the world owes you nothing, things could get better or worse but never forget to be grounded in appreciation.

I hope you all enjoyed the Thanksgiving holiday, and that you all remember its not just about the food, I am thankful for all I have, including those who took the time to share in my profound perspective.

The Truth About The "Job Creators"

Every republican presidential candidate and all of the republican leadership in congress constantly harp about Americas precious “Job Creators”. They use this term most often in response to President Obama talks about raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans. At the current rate either taxes need to be raised in order to pay for the vast expenses of America or something has to be cut out of the budget (That argument will be addressed in another article). Democrats believe that if taxes need to be raised then they should be raised on the wealthiest Americans. Republicans believe that raising these taxes will kill jobs because those wealthy Americans will have less money to invest in job creation. This brings up two interesting questions;
#1 Do they create jobs at all?
#2 What kind of jobs are corporate America creating?

    #1 Do the wealthiest Americans create jobs? Originally the answer was yes because these were the people who started businesses, bought houses that needed to be constructed and engaged in services that you would not use unless you were doing well financially. Its those extra good purchases, services used, and consumption that drove the American economy to the top of the world. We were the biggest and best manufacturers, developers, and consumers on earth and everyone was happy. Great entrepreneurs emerged creating the “American Dream”, work hard, gain capital and use that capital to start a great business. Over Time massively large companies began to rise out of American consumption becoming what we now know as “Corporate America”. Americans consumed and used good and services and people had to be employed by them. As technology and time moved forward American companies gained the ability to easily manage outsourced labor in countries thousands of miles away. In the ultimate pursuit of more profit American companies began closing down plants and factories in the USA in favor of cheap labor abroad. That Is where we are today, we live in a world where a company with billions in profit must lay off thousands of American workers just to make a few extra million dollars.

    #2 What kind of jobs does corporate America want for the ordinary citizen?

    In order to “stay competitive” a company needs to have competitive pricing in its market. Every company has the responsibility to be the best company they can be and success is in fact measured in dollars. As a result if you can lower the cost of your production then you can increase your profits. The less you pay the more you will ultimately have. This is the reason why large companies keep moving jobs out of the country because there are some places in the world where they are so poor they will work for pennies a day. For the few jobs that remain they are often minimum wage, without benefits. There is no mistake about the largest, most profitable companies in America such as Walmart, McDonalds etc. cranking out millions of $7-8 dollar jobs nationwide often keeping employees with less than 40 hours on the clock to further cheat the system for profit. Even if one worked 40 hours a week for $10 an hour they would only make $20,000 a year, and that's taxed.

    Ultimately Republicans love to give tax shelters to their real constituents, those that line their pockets with the biggest donations, and make no mistake about it Democrats do the same thing. In another article I will discuss how impossible it is to relay on a government that can be bought by the highest bidder but for now American has a crisis. In trying to provide for its less well off, while maintaining a dominant military we have created a budget deficit that must be resolved. Tough decisions must be made to cut expenditures reasonably but revenue (Taxes) must be raised. Who can afford to pay a little more? Its time we stop cowering in fear of retaliatory business practices of companies that would have great profit either way. Its time we ask more of those who could do more. In a great time of need such as war the military drafts the men it needs, It did not ask of Women due to them being naturally less adept at being soldiers, it did not force those with medical issues to join. It asked the most from those who could give the most. Its time we do that financially.

And that is my Profound Perspective, as always please comment to open up discussion on the topic.

Im Back

I have a few dozen posts here and a lot of my best writing and poetry was from the heart of my undergraduate years. I took a hiatus from writing as I secured my day job. It has been a tumultuous year personally, and plenty has happened to write about. I will have fresh work coming soon. Feel free to browse my early work while I fire it back up again. The Profound Perspective is back!

The NCAA Pimps

Before I begin this article understand that I write this as a former scholarship NCAA athlete of 2 years and a 2 year academic scholarship recipient. I have seen the NCAA from both sides and I can only make one assessment. The NCAA is the biggest legally allowed pimp in this country. The organization that governs intercollegiate athletics to ensure that athletes are academically eligible and not using performance enhancing drugs are also tasked with ensuring that major universities reap as much profit as they can without the players getting a cent.

Now before someone points out that they get a free education consider this. For 2 year I got a free education for busting my tail for untold numbers of hours each week. After that I got a free education for simply going to class and getting good grades. While I was working the extra hours as an athlete I was part of a product that produced revenue for my school. When I functioned simply as a student I was compensated by receiving a free education by doing the very thing that's costs money in the first place (going to college). Now in no way shape or form am I knocking academic scholarship but those athletes sacrifice class time, study time, and social life in the name of playing intercollegiate athletics.
The NCAA mandates rules of how many hours can be spent on mandatory team activities; this is easily subjugated by “Voluntary” workouts and meetings. Considering that Scholarships are annually renewable and a student can be dismissed for almost any reason from his scholarship one can see how those “voluntary” team activities are crucial and therefore will not get skipped or challenged. I have personally seen the sport pushed before academics and seen people miss classes and perquisites because they were only offered during regular practice time and etc. For those “Student-Athletes” their sport is their life and the only reason they are on that campus.
Meanwhile the “student-athletes” get a college education consider that not everyone gets a full scholarship on each team, some get half and some get none at all. As these teams come and win and gain national exposure they generate millions of dollars in ticket and merchandise sales, television deals, and even sponsorship deals that pay some of the operating costs for schools such as jerseys and pads. If I told you will pay you roughly $100,000 and so you could earn me millions how would you feel? I mean $100,000 is not small piece of change and a lot more than most of America, but how would you feel when you realized your efforts were putting millions in my pocket in exchange?




The worst of this broken system of rules comes when the NCAA has to crackdown to keep “fairness”. This season University of Georgia Wide Receiver A.J. Green was suspended for 4 games because he took his game worn jersey and sold it to someone who offered him $600 bucks for it. He could have kept that jersey for a memento and hung it on his wall but since he sold it for some nice pocket change he was demonized and treated like he took performance enhancing drugs. His selling of his jersey in no way impacted anyone on either team gave no unfair advantages or hurt anyone in any way. What he did was attempt to take a share of the profit that the NCAA guards like pimps on the street. Meanwhile replicas of his jersey are sold in 17 different options for prices as high as $150. Does nobody see a problem with this picture?
Reggie Bush just recently announced that he is going to forfeit his 2005 Heisman Trophy amidst the allegations that he took gifts during his time at USC. No matter if he got gifts or not, his on field performance was not enhanced by drugs nor was his teammates. The teams he played against were not at a disadvantage so at the end of the day he trained, practiced, and went out and performed as the best player in all of college that year winning by a near landslide. Meanwhile USC gave back their trophy and forfeited wins and records but they will not have to give back one cent or pay any fines. The school administrators who most likely were aware or enabled said NCAA violations simply resigned or moved on to better jobs becoming untouchable.


Where is the justice? Meanwhile USC has to give up some scholarships (meaning kids who always wanted to play for USC but needed scholarships will have less of a chance) and cannot play in the postseason for 2 years (also meaning the current students, many of whom were not enrolled in 2005 cannot play in any championships or bowls). In essence everyone who did something wrong got away scot free (except the shame that Bush is getting but then again he is now a millionaire and Super bowl Champion), therefore how is this fair? For every game A.J. Green misses the University of Georgia continues to sell his jersey and reap the profits. How can a system that allows such injustices be considered fair and just?
I’m not saying that college athletes should get millions but a stipend to get gas money for a car, a meal outside of the school café or to go see a movie is not unreasonable. Realize that a student-athlete doesn’t not have time to work any sort of job for pocket money. Many of these young black athletes come from families that cannot offer much to them in form of financial support, heck I used to be one of them. It’s hard when you’re freshmen and you can’t order a pizza or wash your clothes because you literally have no money. That issue is compounded when you school is raking in thousands and often millions due to your play as part of a team. All teams should get a small stipend to give some pocket money and it should be the same for every player, that way it’s fair to the team, because even the stars need their team to win. This is just a thought, but one thing is sure, this system is corrupt, broken and the exploitation of the young student-athletes needs to stop.

The Truth About Lebron's Decision

The truth about Lebron James’s decision to leave his hometown Cleveland Cavaliers in pursuit of building a dynasty in Miami is that he did what was best for him. Lebron had the pleasure of playing for his hometown for 7 years in which he took them to their first NBA finals in history and made them relevant in the basketball world. In return the front office of Cleveland failed to bring him a legitimate second star and he was forced to be EVERYTHING for his team leading them in Points, Rebounds, Assists, Blocks, Steals, etc. Meanwhile they fell short year after year including losing to a formidable Boston Celtics team this year (that came a quarter away from winning the NBA title). Now in his free agency he must pick where he will hang his hat for the prime of his career and he decided to leave.

In Cleveland nobody expects those fans to be happy, but they are burning his jerseys in the street, rioting and even the owner of the Cavaliers Dan released this open letter claiming “You simply don't deserve this kind of cowardly betrayal” and “This shocking act of disloyalty from our home grown "chosen one" sends the exact opposite lesson of what we would want our children to learn”. That is the most classless and outrageous thing I have ever seen from an NBA Executive. Lebron isn’t the first player to leave a team in free agency yet an unprecedented amount of hatred is accompanying the unprecedented amount of anticipation to hear this decision. The truth is Lebron does not deserve such a knock for making a smart decision for himself and his career. Even Kevin Garnett said himself he wishes he would of left the Minnesota Timberwolves sooner, that he spent too much of an outstanding career there not winning anything. Lebron decided to not make this same mistake and to leave while he is in his prime instead of after.

For all the critics claiming Kobe didn’t have to leave, Kobe Bryant was playing for the Lakers!!! Which was a storied franchise with many titles, not a hometown team that has never been. Playing for Los Angeles gave him the luxury of winning 3 titles while not even being the best on his team, and when thing got rough he began to publicly criticize his beloved Lakers demanding a trade. Then more money and eventually Pau Gasol fell into his lap for nothing and they won a Championship, they went on to add the best defender in the league and they won again. He was able to have to talent come to him, Lebron does not have this luxury. He never complained and he finished out his contract with no felony cases and without forcing teammates away like Shaq. Of course Kobe’s tirade was erased by 2 titles in 3 years, and Lebron will have to win it all to do the same. In a few years Lebron, Wade, and Bosh will be forming the dynasty of the 10’s and this hatred will be a memory in Cleveland long list of disappointments.

Finally for all those who think the Miami Heat will win a title next year we must remember that they only have 5 people on roster at the moment, their next moves should be to acquire a solid Center to rebound and defend, and solidify their point guard or get a pure shooter to simply hit open shots that the others create. Also solid role players off the bench must be acquired for a bare minimum. Give them time and patience and they will be a dynasty, but all eyes will demand that they do it now. For Cleveland they squandered 7 years of having the best basketball player on the planet with incompetent coaching and poor roster decisions, They drove LBJ away. As they eventually win it all he will go down as one of the greats with a few titles, for all those claiming his legacy his through, more than half of Kobe Bryant's legacy comes from Shaq being the best player on the Lakers. Other NBA great end up getting paired with other great at the end of their careers, when they are past their primes; Clyde Drexler and Charles Barkley both ended up in Houston with Hakeem Olajuwon when it was too late (Drexler did finally win his first here after leaving Portland). Chamberlain and Abdul-Jabar both bolted to LA for NBA titles, Garnett and Ray Allen join Paul Pierce for one. All these guys and way more moved around to maximize their championship chances. Lebron will be no different, except for the fact that he did it while he was still young. All that matters in the end are the Championship Rings, by any means necessary.

Back Up & Running

I have been on hiatus from writing for almost 6 months now. Now that I am a College grad I have new found time to get back to writing (You can see my Commencement Speech by President Obama here).

I seem to have lost my fans in my absence but rest assured I am back in business. Expect new poetry pieces and opinions of life coming soon. The Profound Perspective on life is back!